Hapag-Lloyd is to expand and update its reefer containers to increase its services on East-West, North-South and Latin American trades. It will acquire 6,000 latest generation containers in the largest order in the company’s history. Around 1,000 of these will be used to transport perishables including fruits and vegetables as the company seeks to grab a larger slice of the Latin American fruit traffic.
“We operate a state-of-the-art reefer fleet that is the fourth-largest in the world. With the new reefers, we are expanding our leading position even further in this specialised business with its specific demands and will thus benefit from the growing reefer market,” said Rolf Habben Jansen, CEO of Hapag-Lloyd.
“With our enhanced reefer fleet, we are ideally positioned for the Latin American trade, which is an important part of the reefer business – right on time for the opening of the expanded Panama Canal next year.”
Earlier this year the company ordered five new vessels with a capacity of 10,500 TEU, each of which can accommodate up to 2,100 reefer containers, to be used mainly on South America trades, one of the strongest reefer markets in the world.
The new containers will have more efficient cooling units that consume significantly less energy, without any change to performance and temperature precision, the company said.
